Training Log Archive: Sandy

TNT - hiked with Sandy. Great dinner at the Ahlswedes and good conversation with Eric.

Streamering for the July 26 Hickory Run event with Bob Fink. Brown and green are fine; white and yellow are probably okay but we'll have to streamer a few legs. Not sure what to do about orange, red and blue. Some things that looked fine on paper and that I thought would work based on my memory of some areas did not seem like such good ideas when actually in the woods. Will have to think about it some and make at least one more trip up there. Got there at 9am and left at 6pm - a long day. And very, very buggy. But the new beach area has great facilities including changing rooms and showers!

Found a deer tick on the back of my neck last night. Not sure when I got it so not sure how panicked to be.

Short hill loop; almost walked at one point but toughed it out. Had to stop to let mountain bikers by four different times so time is comparable to Thursday I think. It was a gorgeous morning so not surprised a lot of people were out and about - at least these bikers were all on the trails designated for bikers and not on the ones were they're prohibited which has been the case the last few times I've been out.

Good hike with Sandy A in the Wissahickon.

First part of the core dvd plus a little weight work.

What good timing! I mowed the lawn and then did about a half an hour worth of yard work and then the skies just opened up. Thunder, lightening and torrential downpours. Glad I decided to get the yard chores out of the way this evening instead of going for a long hike which was the other thing I considered!

Short hill loop. I didn't feel too bad in terms of aches and pains but it was really hard work.

Was woken last night up by a bat flying around my bedroom! Now I'm not too squeamish, but I'm sorry, bats are scary, especially when they're swooping around over your bed.

I eventually found the screen that had slipped leaving a 6 inch gap and I eventually got the bat into a small bedroom with the door closed and I eventually worked up the nerve to go in said room and open a window. And then I beat a hasty retreat out of the room and closed the door and listened while the bat whooshed its way around that room for a while. When I no longer heard it, I very carefully peaked in to see if it was still there. There were two false starts - when I opened the door I could see it on the top of the window frame and when I closed the door it started up again - but the third time it had found its way out the window.

But it took quite a while for me to fall back asleep!

Some very suspicious holes dug in the front of my house right by the sidewalk, between when I left for work and when I got home yesterday. Is it time for round two with the groundhog(s)?

C • bats 3

Yoga class. Crowded, but a good workout.

TNT - hike with Sandy A on the trails of the Wiss. Worked up a good sweat.

Could not get motivated to do anything today. Am having lots of problems getting myself to do much of anything, including even logging. Part of the problem is I've got a bunch of aches that are not clearing up and I'm just not sure whether I need to stay off or push through or what.

C • 2

C • logging 2

Orange/Brown course at Green Lane. Another one where I was working epunch and wasn't going to go out, but then decided at the last minute to do something. I think I picked the right course. There were a few controls in the rocky, wet woods but not too many and I found reasonable routes to everything. Was tentative on several and couldn't seem to hold a compass bearing which is not a usual problem for me. Ah well - guess I'm out of practice.

Sprint at Delmont. I had hung a couple of these so had a little familiarity with the terrain but no more so than folks who ran a course first and then the sprint. Got a little confused near #5 (drifted right, saw the control and had to make a hard left to get there, punched but then didn't correct in my head in terms of which way I had come into the control and so was perplexed about which way to go next), had trouble getting down to the control at #8 (bottom of a small cliff), and could have taken a more direct route to #14. Overall though pleased with my effort. Especially since it was a very last minute decision to go out.

I worked epunch all day - which is fine, I certainly don't mind doing it - but there should have been a plan in place for someone else to take over for a while. This is a general problem at local events this year I think - many folks are willing to step in and help if they show up at an event, but few are willing to commit ahead of time. Not sure what the solution is. I wonder if a policy of "if there aren't enough volunteers signed up by the Wednesday before the event, the event gets cancelled" would be too drastic. And a piggy back "if there aren't enough epunch volunteers signed up by Wednesday, there won't be epunch". We always seem to muddle through, but it shouldn't be like that. In fact, a bunch of people immediately stepped up and helped with the map fixing-up when an unexpected group was using a part of the park that we needed to stay out of, so the problem is not that people aren't willing to help. And if I had asked around, I'm sure someone would have happily taken over on epunch for a while. The problem is that folks aren't stepping up on their own initiative. So I wonder what the real issue it.

C • Commitments 5

Hanging controls. Glad I didn't do a course requiring me to go down and back up the rocky hillside where I had to set controls!

class

TNT - hill loop with Sandy while Bob and Greg ran.

Have a muscle in my butt that is painful. I wonder if it's the same thing that other DVOAers have reported.

C • stretch? 2

So the NSF grant I wrote for scholarships for students in our 5 year math and science education programs was funded - thank you taxpayers. It's a good news/bad news sort of thing: very cool that the grant was funded but now there's a ton of work that I have to do in each of the next several summers so not so much orienteering traveling.

good class; backbends coming along

C • back bends 1

Short hill loop. Hmmm....seem to be getting slower. I'll assume it's due to lack of training.

Helped Ann crew for Charlie while he did the 70.5mile Laurel Highlands trail run. The day was exhausting but exhilarating. My job was primarily to navigate the roads to get to all the aid stations and provide moral support to Ann. Talked her into some short cuts that were not on the race supplied directions and don't think we messed up anywhere. Overheard one woman delighted with GPS coordinates that were provided so she could just follow her navigation system directions in her car; unfortunately she was at aid station number 4 when she should have been at 3; you have to at least enter the right coordinates to get where you want to be!

It's kind of neat the way you get to know the supporters of those runners that are running near each other.

Leisurely walking around Ohiopyle SP in western PA, start of the Laurel Highlands Trail Run, for a couple of hours.

Saw a train laying down track, it was fascinating to watch how it worked. Could not figure out what was going on at first when the train was going very slowly and then stopped at the railroad crossing. The piece of track that was being pulled off the train was on the far side so we couldn't see that it was moving - all we could see was very long pieces of track on the train. When the train stopped we had all sorts of eroneous conjectures about what was going on but eventually saw that they had come to the end of one piece and were bolting on the next piece to its end to begin to pull off the next piece.

Success!
Well, sort of. :)

C • Ummmm... 5

Day got away from me.

Groundhog Update: So between Friday night and Saturday morning three of the little ones made their way into 3 of the 4 traps that were set. The wildlife guy came and took them away to release in a state park that allows it and reset the traps so there were 4 traps again. Between Saturday night and Sunday morning the mom (it was definitely the mom) and two more of the little ones were trapped. I saw a 6th little one go down the hole but he didn't come out while I was looking and if he or she did come out, didn't go into the last trap before the guy came and got the second set of three. So I have one trap left to trap the last little one but because of my schedule and the wildlife guy's schedule I have to wait until tomorrow night to set that trap. I only want to set it so that if/when the little one gets trapped I will be able to call and the guy will be able to come get it right away. So fingers crossed that the last sibling will figure out that if he wants to see the rest of his family again he should get into the trap so he'll be released in the same spot the rest were. Or that he will just wander into the trap for no reason.

Some not very good pictures:
http://www.sju.edu/~sfillebr/Orienteering/Groundho...
http://www.sju.edu/~sfillebr/Orienteering/Groundho...
http://www.sju.edu/~sfillebr/Orienteering/Groundho...

C • GH Update 4

An excellent yoga class. Sweating like crazy.

Groundhog update: Mama (Papa? Aunt? Uncle?) and one* more kid are captured. I'm fairly sure there are two more kiddies - both my neighbor and I thought we saw six when they were very small and traveling as a herd - but I don't know if groundhogs live in family units or not so don't know how many adults there are.
*two now

Short hill loop. Not agreat time but it's hot and I was tired from abunch of yard work so I'll take it. I was able to keep jogging on all the uphills so that's good.

There was a trail race in the Wiss this morning (the Ahlswede boys all ran it as well as Wyatt) and I went down and cheered/spectated for a while. It was interesting to me that a lot of the runners really seemed to appreciate my being there and clapping and saying inane things like "good job" and "keep it up" and so forth; many of the competitors actually said thanks for coming or smiled or waved of something (it was early in the race - maybe 1.5 miles - but after a major hill).

Had someone come and set traps for the groundhogs that are living under my shed. So far I've watched one adult and one baby (not so small any more) go around the 4 large traps and under the shed. This is not promising.

C • box 6

Update: 1 groundhog in a cage. I feel so mean - it's one of the little ones.

C • GH in cage 4

Good to get it done first thing in the morning.

Good to get back to class again!

I read Glen Schorr's "blog" and was struck by his use of the phrase "senior foot-o team". I wonder if he knows that for some that will be an indication that he has aligned himself with various factions within USOF. I'm curious whether the decision to use the phrase was done knowing full well what he was doing or whether he has no idea about the varying opinions over the use of these modifiers. Or perhaps it doesn't matter so much anymore.

C • Sr. Foot O Team? 6

TNT - with Bob. 3 miles on the drive plus the down and up. A very uninspired 10:40 pace for the three miles - but was talking most of the way.